So cyclist crosses a double yellow on a downhill curve in Sunshine Canyon and runs smack dab into a truck – presumably out of control and going too fast for the road conditions; so who would you blame? I lived up Nine Mile Road and am familiar with most of the canyons and canyon roads west of Boulder.

BHG

A responsible investigator should not be blaming anyone at this stage when the “crash remains under investigation”.

That bike appears in remarkably good condition for having allegedly run smack dab into an oncoming truck. But of course I don’t have all the facts.

TakeFive

Very fair point.

According to the article By John Bear and Paul Aiken in the Daily Camera (linked above):

Colorado State Patrol Cpl. Justin Williams said the cyclist appeared to have crossed a double yellow line on a downhill curve and struck a westbound truck that was hauling a trailer.

Sorry, but I don’t see where blame was made. It appears to be an assessment of what was believed to have happened. If we readers assume that to be accurate then one could discern fault and assume that was suggested by the investigating officer from what he understood happened. I also would assume that is a preliminary assessment. Sorry, just don’t see any blame being asserted by the police. Insinuated? Sure, that’s reasonable.

BHG

Call it blame or call it a ‘preliminary assessment’, my point is that it is inappropriate for the officer to be advancing this narrative of events amid the uncertainty of an open investigation. It is inappropriate because it gives the reader what very well may be an erroneous sense that the series of events and the party at fault are self-evident (see: your initial comment). If that is indeed what happened, the investigators should gather the facts, close the investigation, and then present it to the media.

TBH I have a similar gripe with the Streetsblog headline characterizing what happened as “driver kills person on bike”. I believe even the most passionate advocates should be able to recognize that not all motor vehicle – cyclist collisions that result in the cyclist’s death are the result of the willful or negligent actions on the part of the driver. For the sake of all parties involved we should be more patient in determining what happened before casting ‘blame’.

Roads_Wide_Open

1) police didn’t blame the cyclist. 2) If the cyclist indeed crossed the yellow line, then the cyclist is to blame. Why state the driver killed the cyclist, if the driver isn’t to blame?
Journalism 101 is tell the fair and accurate story, and the linked article did. The headline on this page is so incredibly slanted, it’s not called journalism.